New Delhi<\/p>\n
The government has cited a UNICEF survey carried out in 10,000 households across the country to claim that the Swachh Bharat Mission is meeting its targets, three years after its launch.<\/p>\n
The survey, conducted across 12 states, says that 85 per cent members of the households studied were using toilets, a government release said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe third party survey clearly shows that the government has been able to bring in awareness about sanitation through the drive,\u201d said Parmeswaran Iyer, secretary Water Supply and Sanitation.<\/p>\n
Nicolas Osbert, who heads the UNICEF\u2019s Drinking Water and Sanitation section, said, \u201cIndia has been able to catalyse and mobilise the efforts of millions of citizens and the Swachh Bharat Mission is a once-in-a generation opportunity\u201d.<\/p>\n
Speaking to mediapersons at a programme on \u2018Swachhta Hi Seva\u2019 here, Osbert said the mission is taking place \u201cconcretely\u201d on the ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeyond the hundreds of thousands of toilets being built, a genuine prioritising of behaviour change interventions is taking place,\u201d he said, praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the mission.<\/p>\n
Quoting a World Bank report published in 2008, he said the total economic impact of inadequate sanitation in India amounted to USD 53.8 billion per year, equivalent of 6.4 per cent of the country\u2019s then GDP.<\/p>\n
In a fully open defecation-free community, considering medical costs averted, the value of time savings, and the value of mortality averted, the financial saving for each household is Rs 50,000 per year, Osbert said.<\/p>\n
He also appreciated the move of the government in creating sanitation volunteers with the support of UNICEF for doing a commendable service.<\/p>\n
Praising the 15-day \u2018Swachhta hi Seva\u2019 movement, Osbert said that the campaign is a \u201cgreat opportunity\u201d to galvanize the drive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Delhi The government has cited a UNICEF survey carried out in 10,000 households across the country to claim that the Swachh Bharat Mission is meeting its targets, three years after its launch. The survey, conducted across 12 states, says that 85 per cent members of the households studied were using toilets, a government release […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5368,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[312],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-india"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5367"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5369,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5367\/revisions\/5369"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}